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Local Issues 2007

* Some Sarasota EMT service charges to jump from $300 to $600.

* Sarasota Hospital President who brought positive changes in many areas to get raise to over $530,000.

* Will Sarasota County nix every development plan that will cost the county money? They aired their objections to a new 1500 unit development because it would cost the county millions.

I "I live near the Sarasota Square mall and there is a helicopter that flies over my neighborhood at all hours and is very loud. Is anyone else bothered by a helicopter flying over your homes, especially late at night?
Do you know it is the Sarasota police helicopter flying on routine patrols?
Would anyone else support asking or petitioning the police department to fly a different route or at a higher altitude at night? "

* Sarasota County Medical Society's poll of local doctors shows that 2/3rds will stop serving Medicare patients if rates aren't raised.

d in shed fire in Bradenton.

* Kudos to SHT newspaper that shed light on Sarasota Property Tax Appraisers office not reflecting accurate tax appraisals. A taxpayer pointed out that their home was tax assessed for more than the purchase price.

* SHT columnist points out Sarasota County threw away almost $3 million dollars in legal fees on a frivolous law suit. Yet claims they had a victory. Is that responsible dollars spent? The county must pay $750,000 in damages to the group homes they are accused of trying to discriminate against.

Local foreclosures quadruple in Sarasota and Manatee County. We asked RealtyTrac how many so far this year. Sarasota has had 4,288 homes foreclosed in 2007 through September; Manatee County has seen 2,939 foreclosures . The scary part is that the rate of foreclosures in recent months is running almost 1,000 homes a month in Sarasota and around 500 a month in Manatee County. The home above has been foreclosed on by a bank for almost $400K. In today's market it may go for $350K which means a $50K plus loss for the bank.

According to UCF economists our housing slump is due to get better in 08. Data UCF.

A sign of the times, a vacant house, with grass a foot tall, being foreclosed on in Sarasota on a golf course. The loan was for more than the present value of the house. The neighborhood association has been mowing the lawn. Shame on the bank appraisers who over appraised the house :)

Are water towers part of the solution to Sarasota County's lack of water supplies? Through mid-year we have a 18" deficit.

* Over 600 Sarasota and Manatee homeowners to lose their homes due to hard times. .

Sarasota County adopted to let county grass grow to 9" on their property to cut expenses. Parks will grow to 4" before they are mowed.

Lakewood Ranch resident and NBA referee gets death threats after being investigated for gambling and throwing calls. He reportedly had possible mob Gambino affiliations.

Sarasota County records almost 200% increase in home foreclosures. Investors bought homes to flip and when they didn't sell they tried to rent them.

An empty lot downtown Sarasota that was the site of two different planned condo's still sits vacant.

* We questioned why Sarasota's ozone level index seemed to have crept higher over the years. Sarasota County says it actually has gone down. Yesterday's air quality was 47. A 50 takes you from Good to Moderate pollution.

Many if not most of our inland creeks are polluted from fertilizer run off. Sarasota County is evaluating limiting summer fertilizing. We strongly endorse that proposed policy.

Here today gone over the next month. The Quay is being torn down for 700 new condos. 5-07

* The Manatee County Planning Commission recommended approval of preliminary plans for Parrish Plantation a 500 unit plus residential and commercial development.

* Waldorf-Astoria Hotel brand may make roots in Sarasota for new hotel project on U.S. 41.

Fire smoke fills area.
This sign on U.S. 41 in front of Walt's lures in the mullet lovers. Pass:) However, if you want to smoke your fish or meat today just hang them outside on the line:)

As reported by the SHT newspaper, Margaret Fuesy who resigned as Marketing Director of the Van Wezel,, was wrongfully paid health benefits after she stopped working. And they uncovered that she was reprimanded for appearing to be under the influence of alcohol while at work, over reporting hours worked and personal use of her cell phone.

* Is Fred's restaurant in Southside Village worth $9 million dollars? You could open 9 new restaurants for less then that. Meanwhile it remains closed while on the market.

Hundreds of local apartments converted to condos, now they go begging for buyers.

Local man to fit injured dolphin with prosthetic new fin and tail. If it works it is expected to be the first such attempt in the United States and the first success in the world. Watch for our Exclusive story.

Years ago Sarasota County was built out with condos taking up most of the beach front. Afterwards they took a few small areas for the public to enjoy. Current county commissioners are trying to make up for past fopahs by buying more public recreation land. This little 50' public stretch is along the intra-coastal water way.

A 70 year old woman drives 35 MPH in a 45 MPH zone on Beneva Road in the left passing lane. Our point: cell phones slow drivers down in the left lane no less:)

All things come to pass and go. And so this condominium replaced where the Summerhouse restaurant used to be on Siesta Key.

Traffic backs up on U.S. 41 northbound from Nokomis to Venice due to construction.

* Lawmakers propose leasing toll roads to private companies so they can use the money to build new roads.

* Sarasota readies to add law enforcement and fire department impact fees for new homes to the tune of around $1300.

* Manatee County growth settles back to the norm for 2006 of around 7,000 new residents a year while Sarasota County jumps another 13,000.

* Sarasota County wants to extend extra penny sales tax till 2019 in order to fund road improvements.

* Legionnaires' disease confirmed Wednesday by the Sarasota County Health Department. Some suspect at least one patient lived in the Landings in Sarasota.

* Around 150,000 travel thru Sarasota Bradenton airport in February.

Asking 8th graders to pick a major in Florida as a means to increase academic performance and graduation rates? 14 year olds can barely still pick out the right clothes to wear and now you want a major. How about changing the teaching methods rather then putting another burden on our students.

Sarasota Police Department applauded for a safe driving program that netted 422 drivers in three days.

Sarasota County faces a critical juncture this spring. The debate is whether to regulate and restrict fertilizing in the rainy months. Scientific data since 1997, Cambridge Consensus, has shown that blatantly fertilizing with high concentrate nitrogen pollutes our inland and ocean waterways. Other states have taken a lead to reduce pollution. It is time that Sarasota County now stepped to the plate and not be swayed by fertilizer manufacturers and lawn companies that apply it. Polluting our waterways is not only unconscionable but also bad for our property values and economy.

Photo Sarasota Police
As Florida road fatalities increase 32% over the past 10 years OurTown50 readies to propose new law that would require signaling when changing lanes to state lawmakers. One person was killed and the other injured in this accident in Sarasota this week.

Sarasota County Board of Commissioners over stepped a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers when they authorized remodeling downtown Siesta Key at over $5 million dollars. We addressed similar issues on Siesta Key when they remodeled streets near a marina on the key and repaved the entire main drag there when Beneva Rd. is in greater need of being repaved. Money follows money it seems.

Shannon Staub recognized by Florida Trend for her environmental work. Photo: Florida Trend.

Dozens of waterfront homes on Siesta Key along Midnight Pass are for sale. Is it high hurricane insurance costs or ?

An ambulance on the way to a hospital can't exit Siesta Key because the bridge is up. Would you think the EMT's could phone the bridge tender and tell him not to raise the bridge they were on their way?

As local marinas convert rental boat storage to condo storage more boat owners store their boats at home.

Rain has become a rare commodity in SW Florida over the past few years. Last years drought left us 20" short.

Green open spaces are rapidly succumbing to real estate developments.

* Sarasota man, Daniel Prewett, and his staff may be in deep trouble. The IRS says they defrauded the government out of $130 million in income taxes by claiming false write offs for their local tax clients. The company Hewitt Jackson/ JS Accounting had over 7,500 local clients. One dentist wrote off his $800K yacht. Mr. Prewett escaped to Italy and is in custody there. Mr. Prewett was not an Investment Advisor as defined in Florida and erroneously reported in other publications.

* Florida grew by 35,301 people from July 2006 to July 2007. 134,798 fewer then the year before. Texas and North Carolina lead the states in in-migration.

A Christmas Eve multi-car accident at Beneva and Clark Rds marred the holiday. Drivers try to exit Publix and cross 3 lanes of traffic.

* No more free mooring in Sarasota Bay next year.

* Sarasota charity lands on "Scrooge" list

Financial reports filed in Florida last year shows Children's Charity Fund, Inc, of Sarasota, spent $131,711 to help kids even though the charity's total revenue for the year totaled $1,276,837.

Riverview H.S. goes to lockdown mode, shortly after noon Thursday, after a student reports talking to a boy with a gun. All classrooms are being searched, no gun boy was found. 12/07

A Venice Police officer took his son to the Venice shooting range and accidentally shot his step-son in the leg.

New study says Mississippi River could help cause our local red tide. The photo above of the Mississippi was taken last week on the OurTown50 cross country tour.

* Florida sucks over 3 million gallons of water from Georgia daily to supply fish with water. Yet Georgians are running out of water and only have a two month supply left. Makes sense, right?

We've said it all along that Sarasota is an affordable place to buy a home in comparison to other parts of the country. While the national average in 394 markets surveyed by Caldwell Banker was $422,000, Sarasota comes in at $367,500. The study compared 4 BR homes with 2,200 sq ft. Key West comes in at $928,000. Greenwich , CT came in at $2.1 million.

Sarasota County has lost one by one most of its waterfront watering holes. Bob's Boathouse- Stickney Rd, , Downunder-the Quay, Tiki Bar- Lido, Summerhouse- Siesta Key, Tiki Bar-Casey Key, Konalaua- Osprey, Flying Bridge- Osprey, The Wharf-Venice and probably a few more that we can't recall. Most have been lost to new real estate developments. The county has an opportunity to re-open one of them, the Tiki Bar in Osprey. We hope they allow them to re-open it.

Over 7 inches of rain fell all day Wednesday in parts of Sarasota. It helped to reduce our rain deficit to about 12".

The high charged mortgage business isn't leading the power grid in the economy anymore. Many local private lenders like the one above have cut their staff to bare bone levels.

Sarasota school board hasn't raised home impact fees in 3 years. They are among the lowest in the state. While Sarasota schools have one of the highest per capita expenditures per student we have one of the lowest education home impact fees. The net effect: new home buyers haven't been paying their fair share of school costs.

Casey Key Fish House asks for 2nd mediation to allow them to serve drinks at their Tiki bar that the county shut down . The restaurant had a kitchen fire in 2004 and when they tried to reopen the county said the Tiki bar was originally approved for a shed not a Tiki bar. And thus another waterside watering hole bites the dust in our area.

* Sarasota will remain a hot spot for buyers if we don't kill off why people move here, beaches, and livability. Sarasota County adopts to put renewing 1% sales tax on ballot for November. It will support roads and schools. The tax raises about $74 million a year for the county.

First a condo is built along U.S 41 in Sarasota then two years later an access road is built to access it from U.S. 41 across from Philippi Creek Oyster Bar.

Who done it? That is what Sarasota County is asking. Someone killed grass with chemicals on a county preserve and no one knows who did it.

New condos in downtown Sarasota go begging for buyers.

* Battle begins with Sarasota County departments as they ask Sheriff to reduce $5 million budget increase request.

* Man claims Mote Marine was negligent with fish kill because the nets they used cut and killed fish while conducting a study.

Gangs beginning to over run Bradenton with the accidental shooting of this nine year old, Stacy Williams, on Monday. 5-07

* Sarasota County Departments submit $2 billion dollar wish list in response to county 1 cent sales tax renewal.

* New 7,000 home development plans to be submitted to Sarasota County next week. The development is just north of Englewood.

* Sarasota foreclosures up over 50%, home sales up 6%, median home price drops

* Record setting home foreclosures in Manatee County with almost 600 so far this year.

Sarasota County passes law that allows dogs to eat at outdoor designated areas at local restaurants.

45% of our elementary students are either obese or overweight. Sen. Lisa Carlton, R-Osprey halts bill that would require more phys ed for Florida elementary students.

* Sarasota County Commissioners ask for meeting with Lakewood Ranch developer who wants to build out 7,000 new homes in the county.

Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice's population rose by over 92,000 people between 2000 and 2006 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hey, we could have told you that by counting cars on U.S. 41.:)

In memory of John Winter, 39 year old Tampa WFLA meteorologist.

* Lakewood Ranch residents get once a week watering restriction placed on them. Sarasota County residents have only been able to water once per week for years.

* February home sales in Bradenton - Sarasota area up by 5% over last year. While average home price declines by 9%.

* Sarasota Herald Tribune does story on how they and others circumvented hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate taxes.

Local Homeless Statistics:Source: Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness
February 2007

Meals served : 17,757

Overnight Stays in Shelter : 3,862

Total number of individuals given shelter : 411

Total number of children given shelter : 31

2006 Totals

Meals served : 155,461

Overnight Stays in Shelter : 65,937

Total number of individuals given shelter : 3,084

Total number of children given shelter : 179

North bound traffic on U.S. 41 Sarasota on the south trial was shut down for over an hour Friday. Northbound traffic was diverted off 41 to Proctor to halt more tie ups. A wire arcing near Glengary Street forced the shut down.

* Will Manatee County circumvent the law and allow gated communities that were funded by low interest public bonds?

Sarasota County looks to take Sheriff road patrol budget and make it a non-valorem tax. The Sheriff's total budget is $87 million. And the reason is?

Homeowners are replacing their windows with high impact hurricane windows to save insurance premium costs. The windows don't come cheap but save big time on insurance costs.

* Lakewood Ranch out of control with traffic burdening other areas. Mercier suggests building a multi-million dollar bridge over I-75 to help Palm Aire residents. Patterson who represents an area outside Lakewood Ranch says she would hate to see other areas suffer for lack of dollars.

* Lakewood Ranch uses almost 70 million gallons of water a month. They question if their water sprinklers are inefficient.

Area Gulf Gate residents are not happy that the owner of the Gulf Gate golf course wants to sell the property to a developer. The previous owner a lady in her 80's had hoped it would continue as a public golf course.

Maricopa County provides 1st class tents for inmates. We could do the same in Florida and save taxpayers money while maybe helping to make criminals think twice about breaking the law. Photo by Robert Cain

Sarasota County builds new public restroom for $97,000 in Englewood. Homes in Sarasota in the early 80's averaged around $60,000.

A beach front home on Sanibel Island stripped of its roofing and facia by Hurricane Charley. Florida legislators go to work next week to try and lower home insurance rates that have skyrocketed.

Oil drops to lowest level in 18 months. This BP station had the lowest prices we could find in town.

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